Political Science 365 Prof.: David Siemers Spring Semester 2021 office: Sage 4622 office hrs: TTh 1-2:15 PM and W 9-9:30 AM phone: 424-3456 (PS office) or by appointment email: siemers@uwosh.edu

Congress in the American Political System (3 credits, MWF 10:20-11:20 in Sage 1232)

Course Description: Examination of the organization, membership, and powers of the U.S. Congress. It will focus on Congress as both a legislative and representative institution, and will examine the relationship between Congress, the President, and the courts. Learning Outcomes: Through extensive analysis of Congressional elections, rules, trends, and policymaking, the student who successfully completes the course will better understand and explain contemporary politics. The student will also be able to analyze and explain political behavior, patterns, and events in one of the key US institutions, as well as understand its interactions with other key players in American politics, both institutional and extra-institutional. These outcomes map on to the department’s Student Learning Goals, found here: https://uwosh.edu/politicalscience/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2016/10/Learning-Goals-2016.pdf

Format: Because classroom transmission of the covid-19 has been very limited, we will be meeting in person on Mondays and Wednesdays. These are days you have assigned readings. Read the works assigned before class. We will be meeting synchronously on line most Fridays to discuss what is in the news and podcasts that you are assigned to listen to. Course Readings: There are two books to buy, available in the bookstore or on-line: Gary Jacobson and Jamie Carson The Politics of Congressional Elections, 10th edition Barbara Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, 5th edition There are copies of additional readings provided through the Canvas learning platform and web links. The schedule of readings is listed below. Grading: 7 reading reaction papers 10 points each exams 50 points/60 points/60 points podcast assignment proposal 25 points outline with sources 50 points draft podcast recording 25 points final podcast recording 60 points attendance and participation 100 points 500 points Reading reaction papers: It is important that you keep up with class readings. To keep you in the habit of reading and to practice analysis of our texts I am having you submit reaction papers on a regular basis. You will either be in a Monday group or a Wednesday group. You will submit reaction papers on the evening before our class on your appropriate day for the following weeks 2 Stewart (M) or The Federalist Papers (W) 3 Mayhew (M) or Fenno (W) 5 Jacobson and Carson chapter 3 (M) or Jacobson and Carson chapter 4 excerpt (W) 7 Sinclair chapter 1 (M) or Sinclair chapter 2 (W) 8 Sinclair chapter 3 (M) or Sinclair chapter 4 (W) 10 Arnold (M) or Sinclair chapter 7 (W) 12 Sinclair chapter 10 (M) or Mann and Ornstein (W) Reading reaction papers should be no more than one page single-spaced in length and written professionally. They should consist of a summary of the reading, a discussion of what is important to understand from it and why, and a discussion of or analysis of implications. In the last part you can go many different directions, like discuss the value of the information or its presentation, offer a critique or update, relate this reading to other things you have learned, or focus on questions that are still unanswered. It’s up to you, but aim to be analytical and thoughtful. Reactions are to be turned in on Canvas under assignments. Exams: There will be three exams in this class, each to be taken during class. The exams are scheduled for February 26th, April 9th, and May 14th. They will consist of a variety of assessment

mechanisms: multiple choice questions, identification of terms, and essay questions. You may use your notes but not books or reading assignments on the exam. Please note that open note exams increase what I can ask you from the small amount that you can memorize, to the comprehensive amount that we have covered in class and through course readings. Podcast Assignment: Your major research/creative project this semester will be the creation and recording of a podcast. You can choose to do this alone or with one partner. The topic of the podcast is up to you—it obviously has to pertain to Congress—but there are many subjects that this may encompass. Something about Congressional history or rules would be fair game, something on parties, leaders, elections, money in Congressional politics, the work of a committee, relations with the president or the judiciary. Typically getting specific is better—think of a successful podcast that you might have listened to. I just listened to one on whether the Packers should have gone for it on 4th down in the NFC Championship game. They got deep into the subject and explored it thoroughly. I expect you to do the same and teach your classmates about the subject you choose. If you can digest most of what is known about something, then you can “be the expert” on it, and that is the point of the assignment. The podcast assignment will have several parts. First, you will propose a topic (due March 5); then you will conduct research on that topic, submitting an extended outline of how you will treat your subject in the podcast, accompanied by citations on where your information was obtained (April 2); you will record a demo of this podcast for me to listen to and critique (due April 23); your final podcast, approximately 20 minutes for an individual and 45 minutes for a pair, will be recorded and shared with the class (due May 7). All of these items will be graded. Final results will be fair game for the final exam. Attendance and Participation: Both of these are important, and both will be worth 50 total points. If you attend every day, you will receive all 50 points for attendance. Each unexcused absences will deduct two points. If you miss class for a University-recognized reason, please let me know. Participation points are earned. I hope you participate often through your comments and questions and active learning. Fair warning: a student who would not participate at all will not get a passing grade for participation. But, experience tells me that is rare, and most of our students do well in a small, upper-level class like this. Congress in the news: The news media likes to follow the president more than Congress, because of the greater potential for human interest stories. Yet Congress is hugely important, still more important than the president in many areas, so I encourage you to seek out information about the current Congress as you learn. There are many good sources for Congressional news. Elite print journalism, particularly the Washington Post and New York Times cover Congress extensively, as does PBS’ The Newshour. There are specialty on-line sources for Congressional news as well, like TheHill.com and CQ Roll Call. On Fridays where we discuss podcasts we will dedicate some time to discussing items in the news.

Course Readings, Assignments, and Activities we meet in person on Mondays and Wednesdays and on line on Fridays

February 1 course introduction; syllabus and expectations; what the founders had in mind reading: none February 3 the Constitution’s Article I reading: Article I (https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/full-text) February 5 impeachment and impeachment trials listen to podcast: “Can a Former President be Tried for Impeachment?” a discussion between Judge Michael Luttig and Professor Keith Whittington

https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/podcast/can-a-former-president-be-tried-for-impeachment February 8 Congress and the Constitution reading: Stewart, “Congress and the Constitutional System” (Canvas) February 10 the founders’ explanations and expectations for Congress reading: either Federalist #55 and #57 (House of Representatives) or Federalist #62 and #63 (Senate) find texts here: https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text February 12 legislative power in the present age

listen to podcast: “Congress and the Biden Administration” a discussion with Sarah Binder and Andrew Rudalevige

https://www.aei.org/multimedia/congress-and-the-biden-administration-sarah-binder-and-andrew-rudalevige-on-legislative-power/ February 15 the electoral connection reading: Mayhew, “The Electoral Incentive” from Congress: The Electoral Connection February 17 how members of Congress approach their constituency reading, Fenno, “Perceptions of the Consituency” from Homestyle February 19 day to work on your podcast idea, preferably with consultation February 22 how members of Congress explain what they do reading, Fenno, “Explanation of Washington Activity” from Homestyle February 24 gerrymandering and election laws Reading: Jacobson and Carson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, chapters 1 and 2 February 26 exam #1 March 1 incumbency advantages and money in Congressional elections reading, Jacobson and Carson, The Politics of Congressional Elections chapter 3 March 3 Congressional Campaigns reading: Jacobson and Carson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, pp. 119-153

March 5 submit proposal for podcast March 8 voting and turnout in Congressional elections reading: Jacobson and Carson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, chapter 5 March 10 elections and representation reading: Jacobson and Carson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, chapter 7 March 12 key Congressional elections in US history Listen to podcast featuring Thomas Mann and Matthew Green at

https://constitutioncenter.org/podcast-key-congressional-elections-in-history March 15 outline of the new legislative process reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 1 March 17 the legislative process in the House of Representatives reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 2 March 19 the erosion of governing norms in Congress Listen to podcast: Al Franken with Norm Ornstein found at https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/how-we-got-here-norm-ornstein-on-erosion-norms-from/id1462195742?i=1000463708723 Week of March 22 through March 26—Spring Break—Enjoy! March 29 the legislative process in the Senate reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 3 March 31 reconciliation reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 4 April 2 submit outline for podcast April 5 omnibus legislation reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 5 April 7 why and how the legislative process changed reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 6 April 9 exam #2 April 12 incentives in legislating reading: Arnold, “Policy Decisions” from The Logic of Congressional Action April 14 case study-unorthodox lawmaking in health care reform reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 7

April 16 passing the Civil Rights Act listen to podcast featuring Todd Purdum and Terry Gross

https://www.npr.org/2014/04/04/299063588/the-politics-of-passing-1964s-civil-rights-act April 19 case study-budgetary politics and unorthodox lawmaking reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 8 April 21 podcast workshop day April 23 draft recording of your podcast is due April 26 the consequences of a changed legislative process reading: Sinclair, Unorthodox Lawmaking, chapter 10 April 28 reforming Congress: what not to do reading: Mann and Ornstein, It’s Even Worse than it Looks, chapter 4 April 30 experience and expertise in Congress Listen to podcast feat. Alexander Furnas, Julia Azari, Lee Drutman and James Wallner https://www.npr.org/2014/04/04/299063588/the-politics-of-passing-1964s-civil-rights-act May 3 reforming Congress: what to do

reading: Mann and Ornstein, It’s Even Worse than it Looks, chapter 5

May 5 rebalancing interbranch power Reading: either Bauer and Goldsmith, “War Powers and Nuclear Weapons” or Bauer and Goldsmith, “Additional Reforms” May 7 final podcasts are due May 10 listen to class podcasts May 12 questions and comments on podcasts; course conclusion May 14 exam #3

Additional University and Course Policies Electronics Policy: Given the ample evidence that computer usage in the classroom harms academic performance, both for the user and the students around the user, electronics use in the classroom is by permission only. If you use a laptop to access readings that’s fine, use it. But if I find you distracted by the laptop or doing other things I will ask you to put your computer away. Mask Policy: You are required to wear a mask while in all University buildings at all times, including while in the hallways and in this class.

Office Hours on MS Teams: The Political Science Department uses Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) for holding office hours. This system is available to all UWO students. Faculty will be available during the hours noted on your syllabus. When logging into MS Teams, look closely at the status symbols for your instructor. A green dot by the professor’s icon (which may be their picture or their initials) means they are available. A red dot means they are busy. Generally, you are able to join office hour meetings and talk openly in the forum or use the chat function freely. At times, your instructor may be in a private meeting with a student during office hours, and will mark my availability as “busy” (a red dot).

We hope that using MS Teams for office hours for all of our courses will help students become more accustomed to virtual office hours during the pandemic. The main point to remember is that we are available to you. Please use our office hours freely and often. We are here to help. I am also happy to set up meetings outside of my office hours if you have a conflict with the posted times. Class Quality and Feedback: The Department of Political Science is committed to offering you a high-quality classroom experience, and we take your feedback very seriously. If you have concerns about anything related to this course, assignments, or teaching method, you are encouraged to first speak with your instructor directly. If you are not comfortable speaking with the instructor, you are invited to speak with the Chair of the Department of Political Science, Dr. James Krueger. He can be reached at kruegerj@uwosh.edu. Should he be unable to resolve your concerns, he will guide you to appropriate resources within the College of Letters and Science. Expectations for Academic Honesty: A college education is intended to develop your skills, knowledge, and confidence. Graded assignments are designed to work on these items. Thus, to gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence of a college-educated person all graded work is to be your own. When you are directed to work alone, an assignment or test must be done by you, its primary ideas are to be your own, and any outside materials should be dealt with properly (quoted when using someone’s words, and cited when quoting or referencing them in any other way). When your teacher directs you to work in teams, the work is to be done by the team. Two general rules should be kept in mind: all quoted and paraphrased material must be cited and when something is not common knowledge, you should have a citation. Plagiarism is using others’ ideas without giving them credit. Most of it is inadvertent; some is intentional; some covers a small amount of text, others involve a whole paper. More information can be found here: https://uwosh.edu/politicalscience/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/08/Academic-Honesty.pdf Disability Accommodations: It is the policy and practice of UW Oshkosh to create inclusive learning environments. If there are aspects of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion, please notify me as soon as possible. You are also welcome to contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 920-424-3100 or dean1@uwosh.edu. For more information, visit the Services for Students with Disabilities website at http://www.uwosh.edu/deanofstudents/disability-services. Attendance Policy: I do expect you to attend class and I do keep attendance. This semester, of course, that means attending in person, generally, or attending on line for those who have made a specific request to attend on line. Let me know if you cannot attend for University-recognized reasons, like illness, family emergency, religious holiday, or University-sanctioned events and I will mark you excused. This semester, particularly, it is important that if you feel ill, you should not be in the classroom. Political Science majors (and prospective majors): You should be taking Political Methodology (PS 245) in your sophomore year (or, if you cannot, in the first semester of your junior year at the latest). PS 245 is a prerequisite for our capstone course Political Analysis (PS 401) and cannot be taken concurrently with PS 245. You should save all your graded work from this class and the others in the major. Note: If any major changes are made to this schedule and these policies, I will announce them in a timely manner via your UW Oshkosh email account and make a revised syllabus available. The podcast and each test must be completed to pass the course. Barring documented medical necessity or a pre-approved University sanctioned event, the exams must be taken in class on the days scheduled. The notes that you use on the exams must be your own. The following URL contains a description of students’ consumer protection rights required by the Students Right to Know Act of 1990: https://uwosh.edu/financialaid/consumer-information/